What a great opportunity, to go to China and interact firsthand with the ONO project.  Thank you for your insight into that, and your views on the future of the Steem blockchain.  :-)

Thanks for the update on your experience w/ ONO, and for your insight on how Steem is evolving. I guess when you've been working on something a long time, it's helpful to step away for a bit, get some perspective, and come back with fresh eyes and a better understanding.

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Stella, I for one Im happy to see that you are back, to see that you are comfortable opening up like this, sharing yourself on the platform. 

Differences aside, there is something akin to <b>core community</b> here, for better or for worse. A group of people that refuse to leave, refuse to give up, and have decided to battle this out till the bitter end.

I'm with you on many of the frustrations you've shared, regarding the steemit landscape, but just like you, I've chosen to focus on the blockchain itself STEEM and look past it.

I got my head up, I'm looking forward to possibilities, to a decision that might be life changing not only for me, but for everyone around me, everyone I love.

So again, I'm happy you are back... welcome home.

Wow. Thanks for the information about the hunt airdrop because I had no idea about it.   Since I have a pretty good amount of SP that drop should be pretty solid for me.

 I'm fascinated that you actually went to China. I did notice that you were mostly posting about ONO,   and I wondered if Steem  was no longer your cup of tea. I'm glad to hear that you are  seeing some of the awesome changes. I really think rather than getting Mypaced we are going to get Facebooked and rise up to become something incredible.

Steem is really the OnLy game in town ...

Posted using [Partiko iOS](https://steemit.com/@partiko-ios)

I have tried, minds, Trybe, (waited since May for OnO ? ... and steemit is the only one that pays in a currency that I can change into Silver and Gold. hard currency 

Posted using [Partiko iOS](https://steemit.com/@partiko-ios)

I think you did well just taking on a new project, discovering 'what's out there', and drawing your own conclusions about it. 

Even though this blockchain and its dApps are not *centralized* and we don't have to be afraid of being manipulated into some algorithm that gets and keeps us into a bubble, also on Steem we can get stuck in a huge echo chamber with one side being super pessimistic and one side being overly optimistic. 

I'm on the optimistic side, by the way, but that also means I like to read people who are just as optimistic as I am, lol, thus creating my own echo feed :D 

Going away for a while and really *seeing* what has changed and what direction Steem is starting to develop must feel like a breath of fresh air :-) 

Glad you're back and seeing the beauty of all that's happening here, I see all that you've mentioned in your blog as a great overview but also as just the beginning of all that is to come \0/

Totally agree with your post on where Steemit is heading. The numerous developments based on the platform is the evolution that we all need. There is still much potential and I’m <i>opsteemistic</i>. :)

Posted using [Partiko iOS](https://steemit.com/@partiko-ios)

If your looking for a nice desktop interface for steem try steempeak.com, I just heard about it this weekend it looks great and has a ton of cool features :D

Very valuable post.  A great lesson for all to read and take to heart.

Focusing upon the surface level is a mistake.  Too many look at Steemit like this is a large part of the STEEM blockchain.  It is not.  The site is something right out of the 1990s.  There is nothing exciting nor innovative about it.

It is still the flagship simply because all users are still directed here for signup.  That is about to change with HF20.  At that time, the dapps will start to exert even more control.  People are amazed now, wait until there are 100 or 200 dapps all on the STEEM blockchain passing out tokens.

There is a lot more to come.

As for Steemit, that is going to experience a major upgrade albeit not from the Steemit team.  The Bench team forked the software and are improving it.  If Steemit wants to incorporate what Bench develops, they will have the opportunity for instant upgrade without having to program it themselves.

Is Ono available in a desktop version or is it just an app on your phone? I made an account there but never really figured it out. There are a few possible contenders to be the facebook that makes steem myspace 

https://qbao.fund/#/
https://yoyow.org
https://www.synereo.com/

https://lbry.io/


I am probably going to put most  of my efforts towards Trybe 
http://trybe.one/ref/8852/

Steemhunt once you have a few successful hunts it becomes really easy to make hunt tokens just by upvoting, hard to guess how much the token will be worth you may not want to waste vote power on something that may not be worth it though. 

I go thru periods where i hate Steem, but I keep coming back

I am happy to see you back.  I'm sure you noticed I started distancing myself from ONO shortly after the delays started, but once the announcement was made that it will not be on the EOS mainnet I took down my video and will not support it in good conscience.  I wish them the best, but my understanding of the Chinese government and censorship leads me to believe that being on a Chinese controlled and centralized blockchain will essentially inhibit global adoption and ultimately create a liability for liberty minded users that already face punishment and government harassment for their social media interactions.  These are just my thoughts and based on my own experiences, but I still appreciate the opportunity that I had to learn and grow from it.  Hopefully they prove me wrong, but either way I'm glad to see you back here, because I think 2019 is the year the STEEM blockchain is going to go full speed to mass adoption.

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I have also taken a look at a few other platforms like Minds, Narrative (which is still very early on), and was waiting on ONO English. I lost interest in all of them and have become very devoted to be a part of STEEM's success.

I'm much newer to this platform than you (6 months) so I think I don't get as discouraged by things that can seem like devolution to old timers, but have always been here for me. I've never cared what was on Trending. I started off searching for tags that interested me, and quickly found writers I like to read who were willing to engage with me. That set my STEEM experience off on a great track, and no amount of bidbots, trending pages, or self-voting whales has ever detracted from my opinion of the place. 

I think it's good to recalibrate expectations so that where STEEM really is in its development is seen more beta. We are still so early on. And yes, HD20 where people won't have to start on the clunky steemit website and also STEEM stops being thought of as steemit in the broader world's "mind" will all be a huge part of that. 

There are actually 400+ STEEM dapps right now, though only about a dozen are full fledged UIs like steemhunt, dtube, etc. We stand at the initial stages of something truly unique that has strong first mover's advantages.

There is certainly a lot of new positive developments happening in Steemit. Thank you so much for highlighting the Partiko iOS. I have been using esteem apps and will give Partiko iOs a try.

Taking breaks is a healthy practice , it helps to gain perspective , I am on a semi-break right now as I am not finding a lot of new material to read or new creators to engage with on Steem.

Amazing post and I wonder what has ONO done lately and how you feel about the future of Steemit. Since there seems to be a clock on the relevance of Steemit now that there are more DApps being built on EOS. 

Right now I want to see a timeline and investement devoted to push the marketing of Steemit and the Smart Media Tokens which has been less than transparent and see a release date. 

Also would love to see these DApps grow in quality and be able to get some finance from Steem or other vehiecles to keep Steem relevant, and its Blockchain grow to an EOS level.

"the rare chance to meet the ONO team and the CEO and founder Ke Xu"

Wow, I'd heard of ONO in the media, but I had no idea you were involved with the project!

"Will Steem have its own Cryptokitty moment"

In a good way, I hope!. Though I don't think the grinding of Steem to a standstill by a dApp is likely any time soon. After all, according to Blocktivity, poor old Ethereum is straining at 100 percent capacity, whereas Steem has twice the activity, yet is at only 0.09 percent of capacity. Yay Steem.

The future is definitely dApps, and it's most encouraging that developers are simply doing it, and not waiting for STINC to save the day.

I wonder what experience or knowledge you have of Trybe on EOS, a potential competitor I recently heard about?

I worked in Hongkong for a year, back in the mid 90's, and yes - the communication and cultural differences make it very very hard to work together without friction and misunderstanding..
(as a westerner)

It's hard to explain, unless you've experienced it..

Ahhh first of all i love to Thank you for coming back..👍 secondally you must be feeling a lot relaxed by sharing everything heartout that you have gone through lately.... Welcome back 🙏

And after all this writing such a detailed post about each of the dapps and steem future i too getting positive vibes of sticking here..with whatever i am managaing. As a user i can i say I am enjoying...evolving is the essence of surviving...and with so many options it is good to explore every aspect on steem....

Posted using [Partiko Android](https://steemit.com/@partiko-android)

I think a lot of people see/saw steemit as you did. I think if people looked at steemit as Netscape, AOL, or Compuserve, instead of looking at steemit as PC-Dos, Microsoft, IBM-Dos, or Apple,(Steem), they will see steemit in a different light. View steem as the operating system, and steemit as the browser. At least that is how I have been looking at it, I could be wrong though about the whole thing, and comparison.

@roelandp Deep Learning has decided this post is most similar to yours 

Posted using [Partiko iOS](https://steemit.com/@partiko-ios)

I feel the same way as you. I looked around and researched a lot. Steem has the largest blockchain based Social Network Community in the world. Just like you I was very fearful of getting Myspaced last 6 months but now looking at what's coming and already starting to happen I how no doubts Steem is heading for the path of mass adoption. Most critics are only looking at Steemit.com and not what forming on the Steem blockchain. The Steem Total Eco-system is what will give massive longterm value to the token. Someone once said on here that once a dapp has surpassed Steemit.com in popularity that's when you know the project was successful! There's so much going on now with Steem Apps I can barely keep up with it. Reminds me of Ethereum in late 2016 before the price exploded.

This is proof to never lose faith and still believe in this outstanding project that we call Steem blockchain. ;)